The SPAR women’s hockey team are attending a training camp at the High Performance Centre at Pretoria University this week, in preparation for a three-Test series against Canada at the Tshwane University of Technology on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
The series against Canada comes ahead of the three-nation SPAR CUP at the end of the month, involving South Africa, Canada and Russia. Both events form part of the South African hockey team’s preparations for the Olympic Games in Beijing in August this year.
Canada have not yet qualified for the Olympic Games, and will be using the events as preparation for the qualifying tournament, which Canada will be hosting in April.
"South Africa has been an invaluable opponent for the Canadian team over the last three years," said Canadian captain Sarah Hughes. "As an Olympic Team, the South Africans provide the Canadian team with a strong level of opposition, both physically and tactically.
"We have played South Africa every year since 2005, and so the South African team provide us with a gauge of our overall progress and level of improvement on the international stage."
South Africa are currently ranked 12th in the world, while Canada are ranked 23rd.
Fiona Butler and Shelly Russell will both miss the Canadian series because of injury, while Jenny Wilson will be rested. The team for the Canada series will be announced at the end of the training camp.
The matches on Thursday and Friday both start at 4pm, while Sunday’s match begins at 10am.
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